Apparatus for the automatic delivery, on sale or hire, of books, &amp;c.



No. 838,897. PATENTED DEC. 18, 1906.

H. P'OTTIN. APPARATUS FOR THE AUTOMATIC DELIVERY, ON SALE OR HIRE, 031300118, &0.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.29, 1905.

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No. 838,897. PATENTED DEO.18, 190a. H.-POTTIN.

APPARATUS FOR THE AUTOMATIC DELIVERY, 0N SALE OR HIRE, OF BOOKS, 6w. APPLICATION FILED MAB.29,1906.

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PATENTED DEC. 18, 1906.

H.-.POTTIN. APPARATUS FOR THE AUTOMATIC DELIVERY, ON SALE OR HIRE, OF BOOKS, &c.

APPLIQATION FILED MAR.29,1906.

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No. 838,897. PATENTED DEG. 18, 1906 H. POTTIN. APPARATUS FORTH}; AUTOMATIC DELIVERY, ON SALE OR HIRE, OF BOOKS, 8am-- APPLIGATION FILED MAR.29,1905.

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UNITED STATES PATENT @FEIQE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 18, 1906.

Application filed March 29, 1905. Serial No. 252,773-

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY POTTIN, engineer, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at 100 St. Lazare street, Paris, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for the Automatic Delivery, on Sale or Hire, of Books and other Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an apparatus for the automatic delivery, on sale or hire, on the insertion of a coin, of a book or other 'article which is placed in a distinct compartment and having a distinct closing device.

The said apparatus comprises a certain number of compartments, each containing a book or other article, the said compartments being normally closed by respective shutters. Each of the said shutters corresponds to an unlocking device which can be operated by hand through the medium of a shaft or other common member and of a coin previously inserted in the said unlocking device. The apparatus also comprises a summing up device, which is operated each time that any one of the unlocking devices is actuated, and thus registers in a permanent manner the number of coins inserted in the apparatus.

TVhen the said apparatus is designed to let on hire the articles contained therein, it is to be feared that on account of neglect or for some other reason the articles will not be put back in place after having been used. For the purpose of avoiding this drawback the apparatus is provided with a device designed to deliver to the person who puts the article back in place in the apparatus a coin of a determined value under that of the coin inserted in the first instance. The difference between the two values corresponds to the price at which the article is let out.

In order to avoid the giving out of coins which are not due, the device is so arranged that it cannot work unless the book or other article has been put back into its compartment and the closing iron shutter of I the compartment has been pushed home. and locked in place. H

In the accompanying drawings, showing, by way of example, one embodiment of this invention in the form of an automatic bookshelf, Figure 1 is a front elevation of an apparatus of which certain compartments are shown in elevation and the others in sectional view. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line A A of Fig. 1, showing the compartment closed and a book in the same, the mechan ism being in the closed position. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the same line A A, showing the mechanism in the open position and the book partly taken out of the compart- %1 ent. Fig. 4 is a section on the line B B of- Referring to the drawings, a designates a series of compartments open at the front and placed one against another above a casing b, in which are inclosed locking devices and a summing-up device.

Each compartment is of the required shape. and dimensions to receive a book, and the opening of the same is partially closed by a shutter c, hinged at at, so that the upper part of the back of the book is visible, but that the book itself cannot be taken out so long as the shutter c is raised. 7

The shutter is firovid-ed with an arm e, car-v rying a pin n a stud g is pivoted a lever h, one end of which is provided with a hook or catch i, so arranged as to engage the pin and the other end of which carriestwo flat springs h h in the form of a fork. I In another stud vis pivoted a lever 70, the upper end 7c ,of which extends upwardinto the corresponding compartment aand is capable of pushing, under the action of a spring Z, the. book m outward when the shutter c is moved down. In the lever 7r is mounted a roll a, engaged between the springsh 72,

l/Viththe lever e is pivotally'connected a bar 0, .slidable in a fixed guide 99, and which is pulled inward by a spring gand upward by a spring 7. I The end of the said bar is vprovided with a hook 8, arranged to act on the end t of a lever a, pivotally mounted on a stud a. v designates a spring which pulls forward the top of the lever u. f To the lever u is jointed va slidable, rod to, arranged in a special com artment 0c, The forward end of the said roc w passes through the bottom of a vertical socket y, in Which are piled the coins z to begiven out. In the lower portion of the said socket is a lateral slot y, through which each of the coins z is able to pass when pushed outward bythe rod w. a 1i i In the casing 19 is mounted a longitudinal shaft a, on which are loosely mounted, under respective compartments, the sleeves. 61,-, each carrying two arms 0 and (1, The arm 0 is provided with a pin 6, Which impinges against the lower face of the lever h. The other arm (1 is arranged to be moved down under the action of a crank-handlef at the outside and which is operated by hand and through the medium of a coin g, which is inserted in a chute 7", located on one side of each compartment. For that purpose a shaft m is mounted in the casing and can be turned by means of a crank-handle. On the said shaft m are fixed in front of the chutes y" disks n, provided with slots 0, the cheeks of which serve to prevent the coin g from falling laterally out of the said disks. A guide q extends concentrically to the disk in the arc of a circle for some distance and prevents the coin from moving too far away from the disk.

When the arm cl is in the position of rest, the bent end (1 of the said arm lies under the chute between the disk n and the guide (1. The arm 0 and the lever h are for that reason in their lowermost position, and the lever it retains, by its hook t', the arm 6 of the shutter c. When a coin g, inserted through the chute j, reaches the slot 0 and the crankhandle f is turned to the extent of a revolution, the disk n is caused to turn, so that the coin g, acting on the end (i of the arm (1, causes the latter to move down, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, the arm 0 and the lever 72, are thus moved, thus releasing the arm 6 of the shutter 0, so that the latter swings forward immediately under the action of the spring q. The book can then be taken out of the compartment.

When the book after being read is put back into the compartment, the shutter c is moved up by hand, so as to bring the pin f under the hook 'i of the lever h. The said shutter is then locked until the time when the insertion of another coin allows of open ing the same.

When the disk n revolves, the coin 9 acts on the arm cl during less than half a revolution, after which, by reason of the eccentricity of the disk and of the arm the coin 9 escapes under the end d the arm 01 moves up under the action of the spring 72/, while the coin itself falls into a locked drawer r.

At the same time that the shutter 0 moves down the bar 0 moves backward, so as to bring its hook 8 behind the nose t of lever u. Consequently when the shutter c is moved up later on the bar 0 is drawn forward and its hook s first causes the lever u to swing, so as to draw the rod to backward. The end to of the said rod becomes disengaged from the socket y and the pile of coins 2 moves down to the extent of the thickness of the said end w.

When the hook or catch 8 allows the nose It to escape, the spring 1; pulls the rod w forward, and the end to expels the lowermost coin 2 through the slit 1; to bring it within reach of the client.

In order to prevent the rod to from being unduly actuated by the operation of the shutter cthat is, when the book has not been put back again into the compartment o the bar 0 is provided atits upper part with a cam projection 8 arranged to be engaged by a roll t, mounted on the lever 7c. So long as the book has not been put back again into the compartment the lever la la is held forward by the spring Z, so that the roll t causes the bar 0 to move down at the time when the hook 8 passes in front of the nose t sufficiently to give clearance and prevent the said nose from being engaged by the hook. On the contrary, when the book has been put back in place the lever 7c 7c is moved up and the roll i does not interfere with the engagement of the nose t by the hook s when the shutter 0 is moved up.

It is advantageous to combine with the lever 7: another lever 16 located above, and to connect the two levers by cranks k k and a connectingr0d k so that they swing parallelly and together to push the book both at the top and at the bottom.

To each of the compartments (1 corresponds a mechanism similar to that just described. However there is only one rod 10 and one spring 12. All the levers u are secured to a common shaft u, and the rod 10 is connected to the lever a, located at the righthand end of the apparatus, so that the device for giving out the coins z is actuated when any one of the levers u is actuated by the corresponding bar 0.

Each of the sleeves 1/ comprises a projection b in front of a spur c integral with the shaft 0/. On the other hand, on one end of the said shaft is rigidly fixed a lever (P, which is connected by a rod or link 6 with any suitable system of summing-up device arranged to mark one unit more each time the lever d is swung.

When any one of the arms (1 is actuated through the medium of a coin, the projection 17 of the corresponding sleeve moves for ward the shaft a, and consequently causes the lever d to swing in operating the summing-up device. A contracting-spring g returns the lever LP, the summing-up device f and the shaft (1 to their initial position so soon as the coin 9 allows the lever d to es cape.

As the summing-up device is inclosed in the casing b in an inaccessible manner, the agent charged to take the receipt of the apparatus cannot change the indications of the cypher-wheels of the said summing-up device, which he only sees through glass at h j designates a pawl acting on a ratchetwheel m and preventing the crank-handle f from being turned backward.

The apparatus thus constructed and arranged may comprise any suitable number of compartments and be used as a book-shelf in railway-cars and divers other public places or for dealing out automatically divers articles.

It is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the embodiment hereinbefore described, as in its broader sense it comprises an apparatus having compartments of which each compartment is arranged to contain one or several articles to be taken all together each time the said compartment is opened by means'of a coin-operated device.

I claim 1. A coin-operated apparatus comprising a plurality of compartments for containing articles, and a compartment for containing coins of a minor denomination, means controlled by a coin of major denomination for releasing an article from an article-compartment, means for delivering a minor coin from the coin-containing compartment, and means whereby the return of the article to its compartment may operate the coin-delivering mechanism.

2. A coin-operated apparatus, comprising a series of compartments for containing articles, and a compartment for containing coin, a shutter in front of each of the article-containing compartments, means for locking the individual shutters, means for releasing said locking means, means for delivering the coin from the coin-containing compartment, and means whereby the return of an article to its compartment will operate the coin-delivering means.

3. A coin-operated apparatus comprising a series of compartments for containing articles, and a compartment for containing coin, a shutter in front of each of the article-containing compartments, means for locking the individual shutters, coin-controlled means receptacle for containing a supply of coin of another kind, coin-distributing mechanism for distributing the last-named coins, and means whereby the return of the article into the compartment will operate the said distributing means.

5. In a coin-actuated apparatus, having a compartment, a shutter in front of the said compartment, an arm on the shutter, a slidable bar attached to the arm and provided with a hook, a lever normally disengaging from the hook on the bar, means for delivering a coin actuated by the lever, a second lever extending into the compartment, and a roller on the last-named lever, the bar having a projection for engagement by the roller when said last-named lever is pushed backward in the compartment, whereby to put the hook on the bar in position for engagement by the first-named lever. I

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY POTTIN.

Witnesses EDMOND BLETRY, MAURICE RoUX. 

